The present invention relates generally to workpiece wet processing, such as electrodeposition, electro-etching, and electroless deposition and the like; being particularly, though not exclusively, concerned with electrodeposition onto substantially planar thin workpieces, such as silicon wafers and the like, and in a manner suitable for high-volume manufacturing. Specifically, the invention is directed to apparatus for reproducibly making a fluid seal to the outer perimeter of a face of such a workpiece, and in a manner conducive for simultaneously making uniform electrical contact along the workpiece perimeter.
Electroplating and electroless plating are two major forms of wet chemistry deposition that are used in manufacturing for the application of copper, gold, lead-tin, indium-tin, nickel-iron, nickel and other types of metals or alloys of metals to workpiece surfaces such as semiconductor wafers, printed circuit board substrates, thin-film heads, and flat panel displays and the like, requiring high precision wet chemistry-based deposition. An important requirement of machines used for producing thin deposited films on such workpieces is that they be capable of prohibiting contamination of the backside and edge of the workpiece with process solution or deposited metal. The most common and challenging of these deposition processes is electrodeposition, and, accordingly, the present discussion will center around such electrodeposition as an example, although the invention, as will later be made evident, may equally be used advantageously for electroless deposition, as well.
Making a reliable and uniform electrical contact to the edge of a workpiece and, at the same time sealing the edge against fluid invasion is a recognized and difficult problem in the art of high precision electrodeposition on workpieces such as semiconductor wafers and the like. During such electrodeposition, if the electrical contact to the workpiece is not uniform or if the contact has high resistance to current flow, the desired uniform deposited film may not be achieved. A variety of means for trying to solve this problem have accordingly been proposed in the prior art over the years and will now be briefly summarized.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,227,041 to Brogden, for example, an apparatus is described wherein the fluid sealing ring, such as an o-ring, sits in a groove in a base member, wherein a mechanical force is applied by a cam mechanism to push the workpiece to be electroplated against the sealing ring. Additionally, a plurality of electrical contacts are positioned adjacent to the sealing ring to make contact with the workpiece. There are, however, many silicon wafer and other electrodeposition applications that have stringent requirements for the workpiece sealing apparatus to achieve both electrical contact and fluid seal with a very narrow, 2 to 3 millimeter region at the wafer edge. The use of a separate seal and frame and contact compliance means as proposed by Brogden, however, is difficult to fit into such a narrow region around a workpiece periphery. The present invention, on the other hand, provides a novel integrated seal having elastomer molded directly to the electrical contacts in a shape suitable for admirably achieving a reliable seal while compliantly supporting electrical contacts within such narrow peripheral regions.
Other conductive gaskets have also been proposed to form an electrically conducting fluid seal between the workpiece and the body of the workpiece-holding rack, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,729 to Santini. Unfortunately, the electrically conductive gasket, however, is subject to deposition on the surface, requiring undescribed frequent system maintenance.
Another approach to the solution of the above-described problems is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,469 to Crafts, disclosing a cathode contact device comprised of a flexible metal clad laminate. Photolithographic methods are therein used to define a continuous metal rim on a polyimide substrate such that the opening in the dielectric substrate defines the area to be electrodeposited; and the metal rim defined on the substrate is used to make electrical contact to the workpiece. A resilient sealing surface may also be incorporated on the laminate inside of the metal ring to improve the fluid seal to the workpiece. This cathode contact device works in cooperation with a horizontal plating cell and this requires support by the rim of the plating cell. The use of a continuous metal ring contact is also described, as another example, by Woodruff in U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,291, wherein a thick and substantially stiff metal ring is employed. Since, as is well-known, two planes theoretically touch at only three points, such a continuous metal ring acts as a rigid plane and will therefore tend to contact the workpiece at only a few points. In contrast, in accordance with the novel approach of the present invention, numerous flexible conductive fingers are incorporated that both provide mechanical support of the workpiece and are made flexible along a radius extending from the center of the workpiece, thereby being accommodating to irregularities in the workpiece perimeter and making a plurality of reliable contacts to said workpiece; one contact, indeed, at every 1 millimeter or so around the entire workpiece perimeter.
Additional proposals have been made for making the fluid seal to the workpiece by attaching a resilient ring of material to the electrical contacting and workpiece positioning ring. U.S. Pat. No. 6,080,291 to Woodruff, as an illustration, discloses a workpiece-sealed electrical contact wherein an annular seal member is mounted onto an annular contact ring, with the apparatus incorporated into a rotatable process tool head. An inherent trade-off is incorporated into this type of design. If the resilient sealing member is elastic enough to provide sufficient microscopic deformation of the fluid sealing member to mate with the microscopic surface the irregularities of the workpiece, then the sealing member is not mechanically stiff enough to provide sufficient force at the workpiece surface to cause the requisite deformation, and hence the resulting fluid seal is imperfect.
Still other means have been proposed for making a releasable fluid seal for a workpiece, as in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,699 to Saito. This approach incorporates an o-ring between the workpiece and a clamping surface. For some applications, however, this means requires too much space both in front of and behind the workpiece. The present invention, on the other hand, is designed to make a fluid seal to the workpiece without such space requirementsxe2x80x94enabling use, in practice, indeed, with less than 0.1xe2x80x3 space in front of the workpiece or 0.5xe2x80x3 behind the workpiece.
None of the above or other prior art approaches of this problem have thus been entirely satisfactory for the electrodeposition of thin circular semiconductor wafers and the like for which (as well as for other types of workpieces) the present invention has now provided a new and elegant solution.
It is a primary object of this invention, therefore, to provide a new and improved method of and apparatus for temporarily fluid-sealing a workpiece surface such that the edge and back of the workpiece remain dry during the workpiece processing.
It is a further object to effect during such sealing, also temporary electrical contact to the workpiece surface throughout desired regions of the workpiece, and preferably with uniform distribution of electrical current into the workpiece surface throughout such regions.
An additional object is to provide such a novel sealed electrical contact that is robust and can withstand many thousand workpiece electrodeposition cycles, and even in a high temperature process solution, such as electroless nickel at 93 degrees Centigradexe2x80x94all without attention, repair or maintenance.
Other and further objects will be explained hereinafter and are more particularly delineated in the appended claims.
In summary, from one of its important aspects, the invention embraces a method of fluid sealing while electrically contacting the face of a workpiece at its perimeter for wet-processing, that comprises, providing an elastomer-covered ring inwardly terminating in an upwardly projecting peripheral elastomeric sealing bead and covering an assembly of inwardly extending flexible fingers each having an upwardly projecting terminal electrical contact and upon the elastomer-covered inner ends of which fingers the perimeter of the underside of the workpiece is to engage along the sealing bead during the wet processing of the workpiece; resting the underside of the workpiece within the ring and forcing the underside periphery of the workpiece against the sealing bead and the inner ends of the elastomer-covered finger assembly, with said inner ends flexibly deflecting downwardly and resiliently creating a fluid seal around the workpiece-underside periphery at the sealing bead; providing a ring of peripheral openings in the elastomeric covering of the fingers inward of the sealing bead and exposing the electrical contact tips of the fingers therethrough such that, during the downward deflecting of the fingers, therein contact tips make resilient and electrical contact with the underside periphery of the workpiece inward of the sealing bead. The discussion will use as an example a downwardly facing workpiece although the invention may be used in any orientation.
To achieve these objectives, the invention includes a plurality of narrow flexible fingers that form an assembly and are embedded in the elastomeric material; for example, 360 fingers may be used to seal and contact the perimeter of a 200 millimenter wafer. For applications where electrical contact to the workpiece is required, a small region of each flexible finger, the contact tip surface, may be exposed through the surface of the elastomer, with this small contact region preferably coated with a film of gold, platinum, palladium, or other low-resistence electrical contact metal. A sealing bead is defined in said elastomer during the molding over the flexible finger assembly, with such sealing bead positioned adjacent to the contact region, toward the workpiece centerxe2x80x94preferably, in practice, less than 0.021xe2x80x3 away from the contact region, as later more fully explained. In a typical application of the invention, force is applied between the backside of the workpiece and the flexible finger assembly so that the elastomeric sealing bead is compressed against the workpiece surface to create a temporary fluid seal, and the flexible contact tips are pressed against the workpiece surface to create a plurality of low resistance electrical contacts that form a virtually continuous path of current entry around the workpiece perimeter region. In particular, as the flexible fingers deform, they each slide a small amount radially along the workpiece surface which serves beneficially to break up any oxides or contamination on the workpiece surface and enables a very low contact resistance temporary connection to be achieved between the flexible fingers and the workpiece surface.
Preferred and best mode designs and details are later explained.